Monday, October 26, 2009

OIF Summary, Oct. 26, 2009: Iraqis Arrest Bombing Suspects in Baghdad

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2009 -- Iraqi forces, with U.S. advisors, conducted a series of operations today resulting in the arrest of 11 suspects in vehicle-bomb networks operating between Baghdad and Mosul.

Iraqi forces searched several buildings in western Baghdad for a suspect believed to be responsible for a truck bomb that struck government buildings in Baghdad and killed at least 150 people. The cell leader also is suspected of staging the deadly Aug. 19 attacks in the Iraqi capital.

Based on evidence found in the buildings, Iraqi forces arrested eight people suspected of being linked to a bomb network in Baghdad that receives support from cells stretching north along the Tigris River Valley.

The 3rd Emergency Services Unit, with U.S. advisors, also targeted a bomb network today in southwest Kirkuk. The team searched a building for a member of the Kirkuk-based terror group who is believed to organize bombings throughout the Tigris River Valley. The operation resulted in the arrest of two people.

Iraqi police, with U.S. advisors and acting on a warrant, arrested a person suspected of procuring vehicles for use in the attacks. The security team arrested the suspect without incident about 50 miles south of Mosul.

Also today, Iraqi soldiers acting on intelligence reports arrested 14 suspects believed to be associated with a Mosul-based al-Qaida in Iraq cell leader.

On Oct. 24, Iraqi soldiers arrested a suspected Islamic State of Iraq terrorist group member in eastern Mosul who served as the former extortion ringleader for the region. Based on credible intelligence, the soldiers, with U.S. advisors, searched for Islamic State of Iraq members suspected of extorting money from companies in Mosul.

During the search of a building, the security team found and apprehended a man suspected of using extortion money to fund attacks against Iraqi security forces and civilians. He is alleged to be closely associated with extortion network members operating in northern Iraq.

Iraqi police on Oct. 24 also captured a suspected vehicle- bomb network member and two additional suspects in southern Kirkuk.

Iraqi forces, with U.S. advisors, searched two buildings and arrested a suspected bomb network member based on a warrant. The suspect is an alleged member of the Islamic State of Iraq-sponsored bomb network.

In other recent operations, Kirkuk police detained nine suspected al-Qaida in Iraq members Oct. 20 in possession of possible bomb-making materiel. One is believed to have purchased thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate throughout 2006. The man is suspected of having ties to known al-Qaida in Iraq members associated with insurgent activity in Baghdad.

Iraqi police in Kirkuk called on U.S. forces advisors to test suspicious material found when two vehicles were stopped during a routine traffic checkpoint. Police discovered more than 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a can of gasoline and other suspected bomb-making materials in the vehicles.

Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, submitted samples of the material for chemical testing to verify that it is explosive material.